US backer quitting Huntingdon

THE American backer of drug tester Huntingdon Life Sciences has decided to pull out after animal rights activists vandalised his home in New York. Warren Stephens' company, Stephens Group Inc, hopes to sell its interest this month to a secret investor.

Stephens is the biggest Huntingdon shareholder with 16%, and has guaranteed a £24m loan. It stepped in last year when a terror campaign drove away Royal Bank of Scotland.

In their campaign against Stephens, the activists targeted Bank of America because he banks there. They once attacked bank clerks at the Halifax because many Huntingdon private shareholders held their stakes through the Halifax nominee service. Huntingdon still plans to relist its shares in New York.